I typically write with a pencil when I'm thinking, and with a pen when I'm doing. When I'm in think mode, the pencil lets me erase stupid thoughts or simply those which are replaced a few moments later by others.

When I'm doing, I just want stuff to hit the paper and stick. I'm not interested in editing, altering, or thinking. I just want to get that work down on paper. Smudgy pencil is no use, you need the high contrast, crisp lines of a pen. Think how wishy washy gaping void would look drawn in pencil. Not all of us can get straight to the finished article though. I need a pen that allows for correction. Introducing the thinkie pen.

The thinkie assists and even drives the assessment of creative sketching. I sit down to draw a mouse with my thinkie. I draw the mouse. I don't like the mouse, so I draw another mouse next to it. I like that mouse better. But I draw a third mouse, just to be sure. By this point I decide I actually prefer mouse 1. All I do to lock mouse one in place is mark over it with the other end of the pen- fixing the ink. If I don't do that the lines will disappear after 5 minutes. I ignore the other 2 mice, they disappear. I have one left. My favourite mouse. This drives an assessment of which parts of the page I want to keep - but avoids the rash instant deletion associated with the pencil / eraser combo. Mouse 1 would have died if I'd used a pencil. It also assists with time management. I know most of my ideas in any one area will come out in the first 5 minutes. Beyond that I may well just be messing about with the same few thoughts. The fade would warn me to move on to something else. The thinkie could be sold as a sudoku pen. I can imagine the panic rising when trying to complete the puzzle in 5 minutes before their initial numbers start to disappear. Perhaps the ink could go down on paper blue, then turn black before disappearing, so you had that visual queue to 'lock' the thought. Marketing could center around 'locking thoughts' and escaping the pencil tyranny. I'm not sure of the chemistry involved, but I'm sure it's possible. Thanks for the CC photography to As ever, if you know of such a pen let me know.